This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-121695, filed Apr. 28, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a computer system, the operation environment of which is set on the basis of environment setting information, and its operation environment switching method.
In recent years, as the functions of personal computers improve, the number of environment setting items, such as a network, browser, dial-up, screen, power saving, and the like, whose setups the user can change according to his or her favor or as needed is greatly increasing. However, it is becoming harder for a novice user to recognize an environment setting item to be rewritten and how to rewrite it, since vendors and tools vary in units of environment setting items.
A compact, lightweight, so-called mobile personal computer cannot exhibit its 100% performance according to its features unless its operation environment is optimally set up wherever the user goes. However, every time the use pattern is changed (e.g., switching from use at a visit place to that in an office), it is troublesome for the user to individually change the setups of a large number of environment setting items, and such operations are difficult for a novice user. Hence, the user must compromise to use the personal computer with minimum required setups applicable everywhere he or she uses it, and special functions cannot be effectively used.
As described above, conventionally, since the user must change the setups of each environment setting item using a dedicated setting tool in units of environment setting items, he or she cannot immediately change the setups of an operation environment of the personal computer consisting of a large number of environment setting items. For this reason, even a machine like a mobile personal computer, the operation environment of which is preferably changed in correspondence with various use patterns, is often used in a certain setup state only, and the performance of that personal computer cannot be fully utilized.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to provide a computer system, which can change the setups of a plurality of environment setting items, and can easily change the setups of an operation environment in correspondence with various use patterns or favor, and its operation environment switching method.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer system comprising:
means for previously storing a plurality of environment setting information which is used for setting an environment of the computer system in a data base at each operation environment mode; and
means for setting one of the plurality of environment setting information which is stored in the data base in the computer system in response to a request for switching the environment of the computer system, wherein the one of the plurality of environment setting information is designated.
Also, according to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of switching an operation environment of a computer system, comprising:
previously storing a plurality of environment setting information which is used for setting an environment of the computer system in a data base at each operation environment mode; and
setting one of the plurality of environment setting information which is stored in the data base in the computer system in response to a request for switching the environment of the computer system, wherein the one of the plurality of environment setting information is designated.
Furthermore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable medium on which a program is recorded, the program comprising:
means for previously storing a plurality of environment setting information which is used for setting an environment of the computer system in a data base at each operation environment mode; and
means for setting one of the plurality of environment setting information which is stored in the data base in the computer system in response to a request for switching the environment of the computer system, wherein the one of the plurality of environment setting information is designated.
With this computer system, since the user can save and reset setting information of a plurality of operation environment setting items, he or she can easily change the setups of an operation environment in correspondence with various use patterns or his or her favor. Therefore, once the user sets up operation environments in units of use patterns such as use in an office, use at a visit place, or use at home, he or she can repetitively use those setups by reconstituting them as needed. Also, since the user can record an actual operating state at a given timing, even when he or she makes setups that may disturb operations of the computer due to his or her own operation errors, he or she can easily revert to the state before the wrong setups.
Also, when the user saves a plurality of environments in units of modes, he or she can switch the environment to an arbitrary one of the saved modes. Hence, the user can use the computer while easily switching a plurality of modes, and can fully exhibit the performance of the computer system in every use patterns.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.